Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:

Is one of your New Year's resolutions to read more this year? I got you covered. In this episode, I am sharing my list of 12 STEM professional development books for 2024 that you definitely want to read this year. Over on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore, I got an extremely kind message from 1 of you, and I wanted to read it here on the podcast.

Naomi Meredith [00:00:58]:

It's kind of like a way for me to keep track and remember these special moments. This is what this teacher wrote to me. I have really appreciated your support. You have been my biggest supporter and have helped me so much. I am loving STEM and just got a bunch of praise from my admin today with how things are going. I have shared what I've been working a lot on with your professional development, and they love that your lessons are higher level. You know who you are that wrote this and absolutely made my day. So thank you so much, my teacher friend.

Naomi Meredith [00:01:36]:

The goal of this podcast and all the resources that I create is to make a positive difference in STEM education for you and your students. I know this, and that is why I am doing this. But when you guys write to me or leave reviews on the podcast or share with me all of these things, it absolutely blows my mind that things are really working. And I know it's going to work, but it just, like, makes my day, and just hearing from you, and I appreciate it so much. I read a lot, a lot of books, and I mean a lot. I am such a nerd and enjoy reading more than I like watching Jing TV. Now my teacher, Honey, and I do watch some shows together, but when it's up to me when I'm by myself, I'd rather tip back and read a good book rather than watch some TV, and I was even the same way as a kid. On my Goodreads account, which is an app. I think it said that my end of the year book count for 2023 was 77 books, and I'm usually reading 3 books at a time, an educational book, a business book, and one just for fun.

Naomi Meredith [00:02:50]:

And I do mix in audio and physical books, and so that's how I can get all of that reading in, which I absolutely love. So, I am excited to be sharing with you my 2024 STEM professional development book list, and you can definitely read all of these on your own, and these are books that are excellent for you to keep going with your STEM professional development, but it's way more fun to read a book with a group and be able to talk about it. And this list that I'm going to be sharing with you are the books that we are going to be reading inside of my STEM teacher bookshelf community. So, of course, in the group, you have that private teacher community to discuss the books and other STEM topics that are related to the things that you are reading and what you're seeing daily, but there's also more to it. You also will get a monthly pacing guide that will help you easily read the book within a month and also a curated workbook that I put together that applies to each book that focuses on ideas in that and also help you brainstorm new ones to apply to your classroom. So it just gives you that tangible takeaway to really dive into each of the readings. There are often bookmarks related specifically to the book that you can print out and create, any related classroom handouts if they work with that book, and shareable quotes for social media because we know that we love to share quotes as teachers. Also, a monthly live call with me and other teachers to connect with and have opportunities to share the book with others and help you save on your membership.

Naomi Meredith [00:04:31]:

A new bonus within the STEM teacher bookshelf community is something that I added, but is a unique collection of LEGO education building directions, and right now, there are a bunch for LEGO WeDo 2.0. So that's just a fun bonus that I've added at the end of 2023. For this episode, I'm gonna share about each book, a short description, and why I chose this book. This list took me a while to put together. I've been creating a running list over the last year, previewing different books, and really deciding what would be the best fit to create a cohesive book list for the 2024 year. All of these are gonna be linked in the show notes, so don't feel like you have to memorize them and pause and write them all down. You can see all of them listed out for you, and I even created an Amazon shopping page where all of the books are there for you if that's how you purchase your books. So don't feel like you have to write this all down.

Naomi Meredith [00:05:33]:

I've got you covered. Alright. So I'm gonna go in order based on the order that we are gonna read them throughout the year, and, of course, you can read them at any time, but I did put them in specific months 4 specific reasons, so let's get into it. Our 1st book is Visual Thinking by Temple Grandin, and this book a friend recommended to me. And funny enough, Temple Grandin is based in Colorado, which is where I live. I have not met her yet in person, but I absolutely love to. And when I read this book, I listened to the audio, and it's actually not read by the author. And she gives an explanation at the beginning, which is really interesting, where she just really doesn't wanna read it.

Naomi Meredith [00:06:19]:

And if you don't know about Temple Grandin, she is a person with autism, but she is an awesome autism advocate and how people with that ability are able to do great things, and she also advocates for animal rights and many of her inventions, has to do with that. So she's amazing. She is absolutely brilliant. And in this book, Visual Thinking, she talks about how people think differently and how everyone has the capacity to think visually. But for some people like her, this is their greatest strength, and this is amplified for them. She relies heavily on it to communicate and think through problems. She even talks about how visual thinking is an asset in STEM careers, and when people work together as a team, having this ability where everybody thinks differently and being able to see the problem from different angles is a really huge asset and definitely needed. And I love this book for our starting off the year because it's really awesome to hear from other perspectives and a voice from an author who is using what they were born with to be an advantage to what they are doing, but also advocating for how it is a strength and how she uses it as her strength and how others should use it as a strength. And it's just an excellent, excellent audiobook for this time of year to kick off the year.

Naomi Meredith [00:07:50]:

Our 2nd book is AI for Educators by Matt Miller, and AI stands for artificial intelligence. I know that AI is a big buzzword right now, but for good reason, and it is something we shouldn't shy away from as educators. What I like about this book is that it is actually pretty current. Matt came out with this book fairly recently, and it also talks about how AI impacts education and how we can see it from a teacher's lens, especially in the STEM field, and being an educator in this realm, we shouldn't be shying away from new technology. Test teachers. We shouldn't be shying away from new technology anyway, but especially in a STEM field, you gotta brave it and try it out. And we should be educating ourselves about it so we can educate others. It doesn't mean that you have to be an expert in AI or all the new technology, but we do need to be able to prepare our kids for jobs that don't exist. And thank you to all of my past teachers who helped prepare me to go into STEM education.

Naomi Meredith [00:08:57]:

I had no idea. I had no idea as a kid that I would be a podcaster, but thanks to my teachers. They help me out. Our 3rd book for the year, just getting into that springtime, is Mathematical Mindsets, the 2nd edition by Jo Boaler. This book is all about that m in STEM, and there are some really cool ways that it will get your wheels turning on how you can apply this to your lessons. I read the 1st book of Mathematical Mindsets years ago and even attended a conference that Joe hosted at Stanford when I was a 3rd-grade teacher. I got picked by the admin at the time and all of that, and I actually did meet Jo, which was pretty amazing. And absolutely changed her book and this conference absolutely changed the way that I taught math and also helped me as a teacher the way I can show students to think about the way they think about math and how they should have that positive mindset towards it.

Naomi Meredith [00:10:04]:

You can totally read the older version. I actually still have my older version, and it's all written up with notes, but there are some good updates as well that will help you think through the math component in your STEM lessons and how to get students in that, well, mathematical mindset. Moving into our 4th book, we have Engaging Young Engineers by a collection of authors. So we have Angela Stone McDonald, Kristin Wendell, and Anne Douglas and Marylou Love. And what I hear a lot from STEM teachers is that they really struggle with engaging their youngest learners in the STEM space and what actually to do with them, and how to have effective lessons. And so this book is really beneficial because it has those tips and tricks to help you rethink how you're going to teach STEM to your younger students and really help them shine in this space just as much as those upper elementary students. So, definitely will give you that boost, especially the time of year that we're reading this where you're like, I just don't know what to do with the little kids anymore. Well, this book will have you covered.

Naomi Meredith [00:11:15]:

Going towards the end of the school year, we have the book Creating Innovators by Tony Wagner, and this also has an audio component, which I thought would be a really good refresh for the end of the year going into the summer. I really like listening to audio all the time, but especially at certain times of year, audiobooks work really well when you feel like you just can't sit down and read. So, if that's one way you want to read more books this year, get into audiobooks. It is a skill you have to this, but the more you do it, the better you're gonna get at it. In this book, Creating Innovators, it gives real examples from people who have made an impact in the STEM field and what characteristics they have as an actual innovator. And in turn, this can help us as educators provide those opportunities for our own students. So a really good way to round out the year. This book and the next book really do go hand in hand.

Naomi Meredith [00:12:15]:

There are some overlaps, but also there's even more to it. And the next book is Thrivers by Michele Borba. And continuing with that same theme of creating innovators, it's going more into that growth mindset. And I like in the description for this book, it said how thrivers are different. They flourish in our fast paced, digital driven, but often uncertain world. Why? Which is an excellent question. And so I love how they're taking a look at those qualities of these types of students and people and how we can cultivate that for our own students, so a really great way to dive into that. Alright.

Naomi Meredith [00:13:00]:

The next one jumping into that summertime is STEM, STEAM, Make, Dream by Christ Emdin. And this book examines the need for the arts, including culture, to serve as an anchor for our instruction in the STEM space. And it also talks about the ways and the needs for having making or that Makerspace or hands-on creation to really establish that relevance in learning. And this book is super powerful, but also perfect for if you are at a school or school district or have admin who are hesitant to add STEM into your school or thinking about adding STEM or even thinking about taking it away. This book will support all the reasons why you need STEM and how it is beneficial in today's world. It's not just playing with cool tools, it's doing something more than that. So this is a really powerful book to support that evidence. Moving into the end of summer, we have Launch by John Spencer.

Naomi Meredith [00:14:10]:

Launch is a really great way to teach problem-solving and critical thinking, and it's similar to the engineering design process. I read this book when I first got into the STEM space, and while I didn't use the actual launch cycle, there are some elements that can definitely apply and connect with the engineering design process. I also have a friend who was teaching at a school where they all used the launch cycle as a way to problem solve. So whether or not you use it in the specific cycle, it mentions or takes bits and pieces from it. There's a lot of great information as it pertains 2 problem-solving and projects in general. Alright. The next set of books, I got really creative with this book list. And for that second half of the year, when it gets into the back-to-school time.

Naomi Meredith [00:15:00]:

I chose books that would be really fun and light for you to read as a teacher, but, also, there are things in these books that you can pull and use with your own students because they are also written for kids, but it has that good balance where it's engaging for adults. So this next one is one that I loved when I taught 3rd grade, and it's still definitely relevant today, but it's The Kid President's Guide to Being Awesome by Robbie Nowak. And I know the kid president is grown up. He's probably in college now, but your students don't need to know that. They can think the kid president is still a kid. And the book is really, really fun and encouraging. It's not one that you have to read from cover to cover. It has a lot of images and short stories that are inspiring, and even just the intro about the kid president himself and the actual child who plays the kid president has this whole journey of growth mindset as it pertains to his health.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:02]:

So I'm not going to give that away. Pick it up. Join our group. Read it. It's so great. Next to that, still that back to school time is I actually have 2 books by the same author on our book list this year. And this book is Calling All Minds by Temple Grandin, and this is, again, another book that you can chair with your students, and it is made for young learners. And I really like to learn from so many different avenues, and one way I like to learn is to hear how others speak to children about complex topics.

Naomi Meredith [00:16:41]:

I did this when I went to Chicago. I took a 3D printing class made for kids, and I just really wanted to hear the language that they used with kids when it came to explaining how 3D printing works. So similar vibes for this book. It is made for kids, but it's gonna help give you the language when it comes to teaching them about being an innovator. Alright. Finishing off our list, we have The History of the Computer by Rachel Ignatofsky, ski, and this is again one that is made to be read with adults and children. And the illustrations are absolutely beautiful, but they are well researched. And the author, Rachel Ignatofsky, I actually had on the podcast and she is extremely passionate about what she does.

Naomi Meredith [00:17:28]:

And not only is she an amazing artist, but she researches so so so much for her books to make sure that they are accurate in not only the words, but also the pictures. And so this is such a boring topic, the history of the computer, but it's put in a very fun way that is comprehensible and fun. And so I picked this book for November because then it can you can read it and be prepared for computer science week at the beginning of December. And then finishing off our year is a very fun book, an excellent, excellent, excellent audiobook. It is not read by the author, but the person who is reading it is amazing. And Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace is that Ed is the president of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation. And when I listened to this, I was building and taking apart computer carts in 2020, and I was super engaged. And not only did I love hearing the history of Pixar and how it was created and invented and not everything was figured out right away, but it's good to hear these types of stories as a teacher to help build your background knowledge and also share an example to your students.

Naomi Meredith [00:18:39]:

So there you have it, our full list of STEM professional development books for 2024. I'm not gonna read them all out loud again. Remember, go and check out the show notes. They are all listed and linked for you, and you can read these all on your own this year, but it's way more fun in a group. Trust me. And I invite you to join my exclusive STEM teacher bookshelf community, where we will read these all together and also have those fun bonuses to go along with it. Happy 2024, and I am excited to see you all in the membership and also all of the more things to come.